This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Static compliance is a measure of lung elasticity, defined as the change in lung volume per unit change of trans-oral pressure. It is known to increase in emphysema patients, to decrease in the presence of pulmonary fibrosis, and may be useful predictor of response to lung volume reduction surgery. A recently proposed method for measuring static compliance in rodents has the potential to become very useful as rodents become increasingly important in molecular and genetic studies of pulmonary disease. In order to ascertain the validity of the proposed measurement technique, a phantom study was performed. The results of the phantom experiment were then compared to theoretical calculations.